Something New
by TwistedPenguin
Summary: Hinata decides that this is the day to tell Naruto of her feelings. An unexpected character isn't so fond of this idea and goes to make his move. Hopefully he isn't too late...
1. Chapter 1

"Today's the day," she thought to herself.

"Today's the day," she thought to herself. It was a cool yet sunny day in the middle of October and everything just felt "right". Due to the good weather, Naruto was sure to be out in the forest training near the waterfall. That seemed to be his favorite place to be. Hinata sighed, just the thought of seeing Naruto, speaking to him, it made her heart jump. She had been preparing for this day for quite some time, working up the courage to tell her crush how she felt, how she admired his strength and perserverance, and how he made her laugh even when she was feeling her worst. Today was definately the day.

Hinata walked carefully down the streets of Konoha, making sure not to think of anything that would make her chicken out of telling Naruto how she felt just as she had managed the courage. She was so deep in thought she nearly ran into her teammate from Team 8, Inuzuka Kiba. "Hey Hinata! Watch where you're goin'!" "Huh, oh, sorry" Hinata mumbled, still trying to keep hold of the courage she had been storing for this day. "Haha, thats alright, its expected of you" laughed Kiba, Akamaru barked in agreement. "So, where are you going? You're walking like your late to class or something." Kiba asked, eyeing Hinata suspiciously. "Well, I , uhm, well, I think today's the day!" Hinata finished her sentence with a grin that outshone the stars. "No way..." Kiba looked on in fascination. "So you mean, after all this time, your actually going to...?" "Yes" Hinata said with certainty. "Today, Naruto will know". Kiba smiled, "Well it took ya long enough!" he said laughing, but Hinata noticed something... His eyes... Something was troubling him. "Are you ok, Kiba?" Hinata asked. The look was a familiar one, but she had never known the reason for it. "Oh, yeah, everything's fine with me, but..." "But what?" Hinata asked... At this point she was getting nervous. Was there something she was missing? Akamaru barked then whimpered and looked at Hinata with sad puppy dog eyes. Hinata knew that something was going on, she just couldn't figure out what.

"Well, I ought to be going, I've got to find Shino, I have an important message for him..." Kiba said as he turned to leave. "Ok, see you later" Hinata said. "Yeah, see ya around." Hinata continued her walk down the street, bringing all her attention back to the task at hand. Nothing was going to stop her at this point, not a thing.

Back at the academy Aburame Shino was standing under the tree, surrounded by a group of kids. Kiba laughed to himself. Curiousity always seemed to attract Shino, and nothing excited him more than people who wanted to learn. Kiba supposed this was why Shino could always be found near kids, they always wanted to know more, and Shino always provided them with enough knowledge to satisfy their always questioning minds.

"Hey, Shino, come here for a sec!" Kiba called out. Shino looke over, excused himself from the group that he was apparently explaining the life cycle of catterpillars to, and walked over to Kiba. "Whats up?" Shino asked. Shino saw the look in Kiba's eyes that he saw only every so often and his heart fell. "Don't tell me, please don't tell me," Shino's voice quavered. "Today is the day, isn't it?" It was more of a statement than a question. Kiba looked at Shino with pity in his eyes. "I told you to do something before, but you didn't listen. She's on her way to tell him now." Shino stood there, staring at his feet. "How do you know for certain?" Shino asked, a glimmer of hope in his voice. Since day one of being a member of Team 8, Shino had admired Hinata. He was always picking her up when she was down, encouraging her, telling her she could do it when everyone else just told her to give up. Something about her infatuated him. It wasn't just her unique beauty, her careful smile, or the adorable way she always seemed to be tripping over herself. No, there was something more about Hyuuga Hinata that only Shino saw, and he knew he alone saw it. It was the way that with just a little reassurance, Hinata could do anything. Shino knew that all anyone would ever have to do is tell her she could, and she would do it, and better than anyone before her. That's what Shino admired about her, that's why he loved her.

"She told me herself," Kiba said. "I'm sorry man, I really am. I know you were totally into her and stuff.." Shino looked at Kiba with what could only be guessed as sadness due to his shades. "Do I have time, any time at all?" Shino asked. "Well, you might... But really, would it be for the best? I mean, she's been preparing for this for quite some time..." Shino looked to the sky, mentally wishing a lightening bolt would strike Uzumaki Naruto. "I have to try," Shino said. And with that, he turned from Kiba and began walking to the waterfall, the obvious location of Naruto, and the sure destination of Hinata...


	2. Chapter 2

"There he is," said Hinata to herself

"There he is," said Hinata to herself. She was hiding behind a tree, just a few feet from the one who made her feel as if she could take on the world. "Just go out there and tell him!" she told herself over and over again. She inhaled deeply and stepped out from behind the tree. "Hey Naruto-kun!" Caught by surprise, Naruto fell through the water he had been standing on. Hinata ran to the water's edge to help him out. "Jeez Hinata! Don't startle me like that" said Naruto as he shook the water from his hair. "I... I'm s..sorry Naruto-kun," mumbled Hinata. "I've got to snap out of this!" Hinata thought to herself. She knew that if she didn't say anything now she would forever be stuck gazing from a distance, hiding behind walls and trees as she had done since day one. "Thats ok, I needed to cool down anyways" laughed Naruto, giving Hinata a smile that took her breath away. She realized she hadn't been breathing and took a sharp breath. "So, did ya need anything?" Naruto asked, still smiling. "Actually, I wanted to tell you something..." Hinata paused, waiting to see a sign of acknowledgement from Naruto so she could continue. "Ok, shoot!" Naruto said, which was the go-ahead to continue. "Well, I just wanted to say that, umm, Naruto, I, I think..." Hinata began stumbling over her own words. "Oh out with it already Hinata! You always take soo long to say what your thinking!" He sounded angry, but he was still smiling. Hinata looked at him gathered her courage. "Naruto, I like you. Well, more than that. I think I love you. Everything about you, and I decided you should know, because I can't just live my life like this, watching you from afar, wishing you were with me!" Hinata finished quickly and a little bit louder than generally necessary. Immediatley, she began blushing like a mad woman. It took everything she had not to faint.. Or even worse, die on the spot. Naruto looked at her in shock and disbelief. Then, to Hinata's surprise, he began laughing. "So THAT'S why your always so mumbley and quiet. Also explains why I see you every where I go" Naruto shook his head in disbelief. Hinata was so close to fainting it hurt. Then, Naruto's expression changed drastically. "I really am flattered," he began "but my heart belongs to Sakura, whether she wants it or not. On top of that, my main focus right now is finding Sasuke. I'm sorry Hinata, but I can't return the feelings" Naruto finished and smiled at Hinata. "Dont get down though, I'm sure there are plenty of people who want you as bad as you want me, maybe more." Naruto gave Hinata a wink and stepped back onto the water for more training.

Hinata was heartbroken. All this time wishing he was hers and it turned out like this. She wanted to cry badly, but knew that if anyone in the village saw her tears, they'd ask what was wrong and she decided she would rather not have to replay this scene over and over. On her walk back to the village, something else was on her mind. The wink Naruto had given her at the end, along with that phrase... Had it meant anything? Just as she came out of the forest she spotted Shino off in the distance, right outside the Konoha entrance. He was talking to Nara Shikamaru. They seemed to be arguing about something. Hinata did the best she could to compose herself and approached them. "Whatever dude, this is just too troublesome for me really. Do what you want, but be warned, if it doesn't turn out well for you, which is what im thinking will happen, then it's gonna suck. Your problem though, so I'll let you deal with it." Hinata reached them just in time to hear Shikamaru's last statement and watch him walk back to the village. "Uh, hey Shino, what was that all about?" Shino could hear the trembling in her voice and knew exactly what had happened. Although he wanted to pile drive Naruto into hot burning coals, he couldn't help but to have that little bit if hope return to his heart. "Oh, it was nothing" he said, looking at the sky. "How are you doing?" Shino sounded concerned and Hinata knew then that Kiba had told him about her going to see Naruto. "Was that his important message?" Hinata wondered to herself. This confused her greatly. Why would Shino want to know about her confessing her feelings to Naruto? Last she remembered, Shino had been fairly distant with pretty much everyone except for Kiba and Shikamaru. "I'm ok I guess, I s'pose Kiba told you where I was going." "Uh, oh yeah, he did..." Shino said nervously. Hinata noticed he was acting kind of weird. "Well, atleast I got it out of my system," Hinata said smiling. Something about telling Naruto, although the results weren't what she had hoped for, lifted a weight from her shoulders, and who knew, maybe he was right about there being someone else out there for her.

"You, uh, want to talk about it or something?" Shino asked hesitantly. Hinata looked at him, very much startled. "What is going on?" she asked herself. Never had he really extended his hand in friendship. Of course they were friends, you can't be on a team with someone without becoming friends to some degree. But something was different, she could tell. "Uh, no, I think I'm ok." She said, still puzzled over the offer. "Oh, ok" Shino said. With that Hinata walked off back to the village.

"Dammit!" Shino muttered under his breath. He'd just passed up the perfect opportunity to tell Hinata how he felt and to hopefully bring her back up after being crushed by Naruto and he just let her leave with "Oh, ok." He wanted to hit himself in the face, but instead he settled with sitting under a tree in the forest. He figured he was alone, perfect time to think things through, come up with a gameplan, because it was his turn to do the confessing and he knew he had to do it soon or he would explode. He was so engrossed in his own feelings that he didn't notice Haruna Sakura comming up the path from gathering herbs for Lady Tsunade. "Hey Shino!" She called to him, but apparently he didn't hear. She came closer."Shino? Hello? You there?" she called, this time he looked at her, as if he had been asleep. "Oh, hey Sakura, sorry I didn't hear you, I wasn't paying attention." "Thats alright, you looked like you were pretty deep in thought," she said to him. "Yeah. You hear that Hinata told Naruto?" he asked her. "Oh, so today was the day was it? Interesting. How'd it go?" she asked, innocently curious. "Well, apparently, not so well in her favor. I'm sure you had something to do with it..." Shino laughed with this, startling Sakura. Sakura's curiosity grew. Shino never, ever laughed, and something else seemed to be going on behind those glasses. Sakura hated to be nosey, but figured while she was there she might as well ask. "Are you okay? I mean, you seem a bit off, bothered by something..." Shino looked at her, surprised. Sakura was a good person and all, but they had never really just talked. He contemplated telling her what was really on his mind. "Well.." he said "Are you sure you really want to know?" he asked, he wasn't going to just open up to hear if she wasn't prepared to hear it. "Well, sure I do!" Sakura said. She always enjoyed talking to people, getting to know them, it was one of her favorite pasttimes. With a sigh, Shino told her of his love for Hinata that he never pursued because it was nothing against her love for Naruto. He relayed to her the conversation between himself and Kiba, not leaving a single detail out. Sakura listened quietly, waiting for him to finish. When he had, she smiled. "Go after her, Shino, go now and tell her." Sakura's smile got bigger and bigger. Another one of Sakura's favorite pasttimes was sitting in the sushi restaurant in Kanoha, near Ichiraku Ramen, and just pairing people up. She felt kind of silly doing it, but it was fun, and one of her favorite pair-ups was Hinata and Shino. She didn't know either of them too well, but she saw how they fought together and trained together, and Shino's confession was just the reassurance to what she had already figured out herself. Shino looked at her in surprise. "You mean right now, this very second?" Sakura nodded. "But she was JUST let down by Naruto, I don't know if this is really the best time" He sounded as if he was really just talking to himself. "You know nothing about girls, do you Shino?" Sakura said shaking her head. "This is the BEST time to tell her. Knowing Hinata, you won't get another chance like this!" At this point Sakura was practically pushing Shino back towards the village. "If you don't tell her, I will!" Sakura declared. Shino analyzed the situation and decided she was dead serious. "Ok! ok! I'll go and do it now!" He got up and headed towards the village, but before going to far he turned to Sakura. "Thank you," he said, and turned back and walked away. Sakura smiled to herself. She couldnt wait to see what came of this.

"Hey, Hinata, wait up!" Shino called breathlessly. He had run around the village several times before finally finding her. Hinata stopped and turned around, waiting for Shino to catch up. "Oh, hi again, did you forget something?" she asked him. She was very confused. "Why was he running like that? That is so not Shino..." she thought to herself. "Hinata," he said "I want to talk to you about something...would you like to go on a walk so we can talk in the fresh air?" "Uh, sure, ok" she said. She figured whatever he wanted to talk about was training or a new mission. Both of them walked quietly together to a small park in the village near the academy. Shino sat down on a grassy patch near a pond and motioned for Hinata to do the same. This was out of character, and Hinata knew it. Something was really going on and it wasn't the usual. She waited for him to speak, but he just stared down at an ant crawling across the grass. He picked it up. "This is a Muneboso-ari. It's well known for living in the dead twigs of trees, as opposed to to the usual ant hill on the ground" Hinata just looked at him expectantly. She knew he often threw random bug facts out there whenever he saw a bug. They were his thing, so it's expected. She liked that about him, he was full of random facts and you only heard them if you were paying attention.

"Hinata..." she looked over and found him looking back at her. They sat there, gazing at each other. "Hinata, I think..." Her heart skipped several beats. Without thinking she put her finger to his lips, silencing him immediatley. They continued to look at eachother, reading eachothers faces. Then Shino did something unexpected. He lifted his hands to his face and removed his sunglasses. Hinata's jaw dropped in shock. He had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen. She continued to stare into his eyes, reading his emotions like no one else had ever done before. She seemed to lose herself in them, forgetting everything in the world that was bad. Without warning, she leaned in and kissed him. As she pulled back she looked at Shino with a new perspective. "Well, what I was trying to say was... Hinata, I think I'm in love with you." With that, Shino grabbed her chin and kissed her with every ounce of emotion he had. Both knew that this was the beginning of something totally new.


End file.
